He is risen!
As we prepare for the Easter holiday, my mind has been drawn to holiday traditions, the scale of those celebrations, and what they represent. We celebrate Independence Day with large gatherings and fireworks to recognize and appreciate the freedoms we all enjoy. We celebrate Thanksgiving with food, family, football, and shopping, and perhaps an acknowledgment of blessings. Halloween with costumes and candy. Christmas with decorations, music, gifts, and hopefully a remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ.
By comparison, Easter celebrations seem a bit subdued. We don't drive around town during Easter to look at lights and decorations. We don't bring a tree into the house. No kids dress up to knock on doors asking for candy and to date, I have never seen an Easter fireworks display.
The argument could be made that Easter should have the biggest celebration of all. Easter is the observance of the most important event to occur in the history of the world.
That is the sacrifice, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We come to earth and experience pain, suffering and sin. We make mistakes. We are hurt by the actions of others. And in the end, we all die. That sounds like a pretty bleak existence. And amazingly, we all chose to come to earth to have this experience. God knew that this would be the case and so he provided a way for us to overcome the trials of this life and ultimately death. He sent Jesus Christ.
During Holy Week, we observe with gratitude, the culmination of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. Jesus observed the Passover with His Apostles and instituted the sacrament representing the sacrifice He would make of His body and blood. He went to Gethsemane and there, willingly, took upon Himself all of the pains, sorrows, and sins of the world. He was betrayed by one of His own and sentenced to death by crucifixion. He was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross. While suffering on the cross He asked His Father to “forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And then He died.
Jesus' body was placed in a tomb and the tomb was sealed, and guarded. On the morning after the Sabbath, the day we now call Easter, Jesus' disciples returned to find the tomb empty and an angel testifying, “He is not here: for he is risen..” (Matthew 28:6).
As the Son of God, Jesus Christ had the power to stop any of the terrible things He experienced but He knew that without Him, we would not be able to overcome our mortal existence. He suffered for all of us so that as we experience trials in this life, we can do so knowing that the price of pain and sin has already been paid. As we experience the loss of loved ones and face our own mortality, we do so knowing that like Jesus Christ, we too will be resurrected. He overcame all so that we can have hope and joy in this life and eternal life in the world to come.
As we celebrate Easter, remember that we are observing the most sacred events to occur in the history of the world. We don't need fireworks and decorations. We need a quiet place to pray and to thank God for loving us so much that He sent His Son. May you all enjoy a beautiful Easter and carry throughout the year the blessings and messages of the season. He is risen!